first of the year
by Dusty Bones
Summary: When Beth and Maggie go to the Grimes' Christmas Party, Beth finds herself alone with another one of the guests. Bethyl, no-zombies au.


Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by me, blah blah.

[notes at the end]

The Grimes lived in a firmly middle-class neighborhood, at the end of the last street. The entire neighborhood sat on a hill just outside of town. It was comprised of only five streets, and it was the sort of place where everyone knew each other. Both as a sheriff and as a neighbor, Rick Grimes had secured a highly-liked status amongst the neighborhood. His son Carl was one of the most well-behaved boys that Beth had ever met. And his wife Lori held the most perfect parties that everyone in the whole neighborhood was always invited to.

Beth was excited to go to the Grimes' Christmas party. She hadn't been to one of Lori's parties since before her father had allowed her to stay with her big sister over the summer.

Her sister looked considerably less enthusiastic from her spot in the driver's seat. She had curled her hair a bit and wore a dark dress with sequins scattered like stars. She looked beautiful, but her frown detracted from all of it. Beth glance over at her as she drove.

"Are you excited?" She asked, although she already knew the answer.

Maggie rolled her eyes. "We always go to the Grimes' Christmas party, every year." She started, resting her elbow on the windowsill and leaning her cheek on her closed fist. "I just…didn't want to go to this party, is all."

"Then whose party did you want to go to, then?" Beth quirked her eyebrow knowingly.

Maggie's eye flashed over to her little sister's. "Nowhere, no one else's." She answered a bit defensively. After a moment she said, "I had invited Glenn, but he couldn't come. A previous engagement, or something." She shrugged.

"A previous engagement?" she echoed back at her sister, sounding a little skeptical.

"Well, I don't know," Maggie snapped, although her heart wasn't in it. Beth could tell that Maggie had been really put out by Glenn's absence, so she refrained from commenting further.

They turned onto the Grime's street. Their house was decorated simply, just plastic candy canes lining both the driveway and the sidewalk up to the front door and lights lining their roof. But even from down the street it was obvious that there was a party going on inside. It seemed like a constant stream of people were going in and out of the front door. It looked like it was going to be as popular a party as any other year.

Since most of their guests lived in the neighborhood and had simply walked over, there were only a few cars surrounding the house. Maggie pulled up fairly close and cut her car's engine.

"Ready?" She asked as she reached in the back seat for her purse.

Beth smiled, "Of course," and climbed out her side. It was a bit awkward in her dark green dress. Maggie's exit was much smoother, and hinted at years of experience with boys and dates.

"You look really beautiful," She told her quietly as they made their way to the front door. "It's too bad Glenn missed it."

Her sister's smile was big and warm as she wrapped her arm around Beth and gave a little squeeze. "_Thanks_, Bethy. You look really beautiful, too."

She knew that Maggie had just been returning the compliment, but it still made her smile.

Lori appeared at the door before they had even reached it. She was about eight months pregnant, and looked every bit the glowing expectant mother in her red dress. Little bell earrings dangled from her ears.

"Maggie, Beth," She drew them both into hugs, one right after the other. "I was starting to worry that you two weren't coming." She admitted as she ushered them inside.

Inside the house there were at least two dozen people, and they were all milling around the Grimes household with drinks or some of Lori's Christmas cookies. There was a large tree set up in the corner of the living room, and of course it had been decorated beautifully. A man – Beth assumed he was a neighbor – accidentally bumped into the tree and caused both himself and her a heart attack.

"Sorry about that," Maggie laughed a little. "We came from the opposite direction and got a bit turned around."

She couldn't see anyone else that she knew, not that she was really expecting to. Every year it seemed as if less and less of the old crowd showed up. Her old crowd, anyway. She knew for a fact that Patricia was supposed to be there, but she couldn't see her from where she was standing.

Just then Rick came up behind Lori and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Hey, girls, where's your father?"

"He had an emergency with one of the horses." Beth explained with a sad smile. "He said to tell you that he's sorry he couldn't make it."

Rick nodded. "That's too bad; what was the emergency?"

"The horse went into labor." She explained. Rick's paused and his eyes strayed down to his wife's stomach for an instant, and they all caught it.

Lori laughed. "Don't worry about it, Rick." She gave him a pat on the stomach and started guiding him away. "You girls enjoy yourselves, now."

Maggie and Beth stayed together for a few minutes. Maggie got a glass of wine and Beth grabbed a cookie and they tried to find anyone they knew. They did find one of Maggie's old boyfriends, but Beth's older sister swiftly steered them both away as soon as they recognized him.

Suddenly Maggie started sifting through her purse. She pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen.

"Glen''s calling," She explained, already heading for the back door. "I'll be right back."

"Sure," Beth nodded.

Then she was alone. Well, alone as one could be at a fairly large party, anyway. She shifted on her feet, finished her cookie, smoothed down her dress. Maggie still wasn't back after a few minutes and Beth knew that it'd probably be a while anyway. She started making her way through the crowd to the food table. Fudge, cookies, and other assorted sweets lined one half of the table while various wines and liquors sat on the other side. There were also several bottles of champagne, but they looked to be unopened.

Beth frowned. She didn't really want any more sweets and she was still technically underage when it came to alcohol.

Also, Maggie would've _killed_ her if she found her drinking alcohol.

So instead she made her way to the kitchen. She knew Lori wouldn't mind if she got herself a glass of water, even if quests weren't allowed in the kitchen. The kitchen was in the back of the house, with a window that looked out over the backyard, so she had to weave her way through the Christmas crowd to get to the other end of the house. On the way she accidently bumped into a middle-aged woman, causing her to almost spill her drink.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She apologized, reaching behind her for the kitchen door. She quickly backed in and shut the door behind her. Taking a deep breath, she turned and jumped when she saw a man leaning against the counter to her left.

He was underdressed for the occasion; he had on dark, worn khakis and a grey-green flannel. On top of his shirt was some sort of motorcycle vest. He looked every bit the part of a motorcyclist, with his slouched posture and shaggy hair. And he was staring right at her, his gaze an icy blue behind his bangs.

"Ah, sorry," Beth broke eye contact with the man and looked down briefly in embarrassment. "You scared me."

At first he didn't really reply, but then he shrugged. "S'no problem."

Beth awkwardly made her way over to the cabinet where the cups were, which happened to be right next to the man. Despite being thrown together in a house full of strangers, she was suddenly shy to enter the man's space. But he made no move to give her any extra room, and she was determined not to appear hesitant.

She grabbed the first cup she saw – a blue mug with yellow sunshine swirls – and quickly went over to the sink. Turning on the water she threw a glance over her shoulder at the man leaning against the counter. She briefly made eye contact again but he looked away as if he had been caught doing something that he shouldn't have.

She wanted to make an effort to be polite. The man had obviously been looking for some space away from the crowd. By the look on his face it seemed as if he wasn't too fond of those in attendance. Or maybe he just didn't know anyone out there.

"So…" She started, turning off the tap. "I'm Beth." She turned around to face him and leaned against the opposite counter.

"Daryl," He offered gruffly, and so low that she almost didn't catch it.

She smiled politely. "Nice to meet you, Daryl." She paused only briefly before continuing. "So, how do you know the Grimes family?"

His gaze cut to her and his expression told her plainly what he thought of small-talk. He shifted on his feet and shrugged. "I know Rick,"

"Oh really?" She continued politely, subtly urging him to go on.

He only grunted a sort of affirmative.

He was obviously being vague deliberately, so she guessed that he didn't really want to talk about it. Instead she said, "I've known them ever since I can remember. Mr. Grimes helped my Daddy out once with the police when someone had stolen from the farm."

She remembered how mad her mother had been, since the man had stolen an antique that had belonged to her grandmother.

The man – Daryl – looked at her with an unreadable expression. She thought that maybe he was debating whether or not to continue the conversation. "Farm?" He repeated finally.

"Yeah," She nodded. "I live on a farm."

His shoulders shook once, like he thought that that was funny. "Wouldn't picture you for a farm girl," He mentioned. Beth couldn't tell if that as meant to be an insult or not.

"Why not?" She tilted her head to the side and tried to keep her tone neutral.

He looked her only briefly before he looked away, but his eyes looked as if it was obvious. "You're all…" He vaguely gestured at her with a careless flip of his hand. "I'unno. Girly."

"Girly?" She raised her eyebrows and tried not to laugh. "Are you saying that girly-girls can't live on a farm?"

"That ain't what I said," He insisted, crossing his arms. He looked uncomfortable attempting to carry on the conversation with her, but she wanted to continue it.

She couldn't help but smile a little. "It sounded like it."

He seemed to take her smile as if she was making fun of him. He scowled and shifted again. Something about his body language told Beth that he was about to leave, and his gaze drifted towards the door.

"You're right, sorta." He paused and looked back at her. She shrugged. "There's a lot of stuff I can't do around the farm. Well, there's some stuff that _I_ think I could do, but Daddy won't let me."

"You're little," He said as if that explained it. He shifted slightly back and she could tell that for the moment he was going to continue their conversation. She absently tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, but I'm stronger than I look." She insisted. "I can do almost anything that Shawn can – that's my brother." She added as an afterthought.

"Well obviously not, if your Dad won't let ya do it." He countered.

She shook her head good-naturedly. "You sure just say whatever you're thinking, don't you?" His bluntness reminded her a bit of her sister, but different. She had learned from last time so hid her smile behind her mug.

"Don't see no reason to lie," He replied.

He seemed to be switching between a casual bluntness and a strange sort of timidity, or introversion, or…something. It was a bit magnetic, in its own way.

She regarded him for a moment before setting down her mug on the counter. "Ok, so what about you? Where do you live?" He immediately stiffened at the turn of the conversation, and she worried for a moment that he was going to start leaving again.

But he didn't move, or at least, not much. He shifted a lot on his feet. "None of your business," He finally said, glaring at her. She couldn't hold his gaze for but a moment before she had to look away.

"Ok," She accepted easily. She hadn't meant to put him so on edge, and for some reason she didn't really want to stop talking to him. Maybe it was because he was the type of man that Maggie would definitely _not_ want her talking to. Like some sort of rebellious streak, or something. Or maybe it was because he was the first person that she had found to talk to in the first place after her sister had left her.

Either way, she knew that she wanted to keep talking to him. So instead she asked, "What do you think of the party?"

He glanced over at the kitchen door and then back to her. "'Dunno. Haven't seen much of it."

"Really? You've been in here the entire time?"

"No," He squinted his eyes at her and shook his head. "I ain't been hidin' in here." He insisted, although that wasn't what she had been saying.

"Then what is it?"

"Don't like the company much, I guess." He admitted.

She nodded, trying to placate his agitation. "I know what you mean. I mean, it's not like I don't like anyone, but I don't think I know hardly anyone out there."

To her surprise, he nodded. "Yeah,"

She smiled and crossed the kitchen to his side of the counter. She leaned back against the counter beside him, but made sure to leave an appropriate amount of space between them. She felt his sharp gaze on her the entire time, but she didn't return the look. Instead she just looked out the window.

"See over there?" She pointed at the view. From the hill the neighborhood was situated on there were vast amounts of land visible. Or at least they were during the day. At night it just seemed to be endless black against a dark purple overcast sky, and it was no different that night. There were only a few pin points of light, mostly on the left.

Where she had pointed was a big patch of darkness to the right. "Over there somewhere is my family's farm."

His gaze followed her finger, but he only looked out the window briefly before looking back at her and then away. "S'close." Was all he said.

"Yeah," She agreed. "But it takes over an hour to drive there from here."

He didn't reply to that, instead turning his gaze back out the window. She took the moment to get a good look at his profile.

"What're ya starin' at, girl?" He asked suddenly, turning to look at her with a raised eyebrow. His tone was harsh but his gaze was neutral, his blue eyes searching.

She could feel the heat creeping up her neck and prickling her ears. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just – hey, look." She pointed out the window again.

Confused, he looked back at where she pointed. Outside the house lights were illuminating fat snowflakes, falling lazily to the ground. At first there were only a few, but it seemed to pick up with every second. The first snow of the year.

"It's snowing," She pointed out the obvious.

He glanced back at her needless comment, and she froze, because his lips were turned up just the slightest bit at the ends. He was as close to smiling as she'd seen him. Not that she'd known him longer than thirty or so minutes.

Just then the kitchen door banged open, drawing both of their attentions to it and away from each other. Maggie stood there, her gaze sweeping over the kitchen until it landed on Beth.

"There you are," She sighed, but then her gaze flew towards Daryl. "Who's this?" She asked calmly, but Beth knew her sister well enough to be able to tell when she was getting ready to fly into over-protective-big-sister mode. She heard Daryl shift behind her.

Beth spoke quickly. "Maggie, this is Daryl. He knows Rick." She added in an attempt to appease her sister. She thought that maybe a connection to the Grimes would help ease her fears. Then she looked up at Daryl. "This is Maggie, she's my older sister."

Daryl looked up over at her older sister and nodded. Maggie nodded back with a polite smile on her face, but Beth knew that she was going to hear it later. She sighed, and felt herself blush from embarrassment.

"Hi," Maggie said shortly, then ushered her sister over. "Come on, everyone's going to play a game."

Beth furrowed her eyebrows. "What game?"

Her big sister shrugged. "Last I checked they hadn't decided. I just came to get you,"

Beth knew that she couldn't reasonably come up with an excuse to stay there in the kitchen so that she could continue talking to Daryl. It was embarrassing enough to be found alone with some man that she barely knew.

"Ok," She gave in. "I'm coming."

Satisfied, Maggie threw one more glance at Daryl and then went back out to the party. Beth turned back to him.

"Are you gonna come?" She asked, although by his expression she already knew the answer.

"And play a game?" He scoffed and crossed his arms, not bothering to answer her question.

She frowned. "You don't know what game it is; you might like it."

He grunted again, dismissing the idea. She sighed inwardly and gave up.

"Ok, well. It was nice to meet you, Daryl." She held out her hand. His gaze flickered down and then back to her face. She wasn't sure that he was going to accept the offered hand; his face was an unreadable mask of neutrality and his arms stayed firmly crossed against his chest.

But right as she was about to drop her hand to her side he took it and gave it one solid shake. His grip was firm, and she was sure that hers felt feeble in comparison. Then he let it drop.

"See ya, farm girl." He said with that same quirk of his lips, and she smiled back up at him.

She found that she wanted to say something else, something profound that would leave her memory with him. His own gaze bore into her, and his eyes seemed as if they could communicate a thousand things if he wanted. She only had her words, but when nothing came to her mind she ended up just turning to leave.

She started to pull on the kitchen door but paused when she saw a distinctly masculine hand hold it open. She turned and he was standing by the door, holding it open for her. At her questioning gaze he shrugged, looked down at the ground, and stuck his free hand in his pocket.

"One game won't hurt," He muttered quietly, raising his blue eyes to meet her gaze.

She broke into a grin.

[Author notes]

So, my second holiday-themed bethyl. This is so rough and all over the place, I'm so sorry. It's so difficult to think of certain specific things that come up in aus in relation to the characters. Like, which Daryl do I write? Do I write the loud redneck of seasons 1-2, or do I write the much more mature, mellow Daryl of seasons 3-4? It tends to fluxuate within a single work, and that isn't good.

Anyway, I'm rambling. It's not great, but I hope you all enjoyed my holiday oneshot.


End file.
